Sara Hurley, Chief Dental Officer for England will set out the “clear and compelling” economic case for integrated oral health at this year’s Health and Care Innovation Expo in Manchester.

The flagship annual event in Manchester will feature a series of speakers and sessions that will highlight the challenges and opportunities for dentistry and oral health over the coming year. Sessions led by the Chief Dental Officer will set out the economic and fiscal case for oral health including: ‘Dollars Diabetes and Dental Disease’, which will demonstrate how patients can improve their glycaemic control and reduce their glycaemic index whilst reducing pharmaceutical bills; and ‘Putting your money where your mouth is’, which will detail the evidence from the introduction of Mouth Care Matters across 13 trusts including healthcare system savings and social benefits.

In addition the Chief Dental Officer will be launching a major new initiative to survey the dental profession – frontline staff and providers – on record card keeping. Carried out in collaboration with the General Dental Council and NHS Business Services Authority, the findings will inform the development of new performance and quality standards.

Sara Hurley, Chief Dental Officer, said: “There is clear and compelling evidence regarding not only the health benefits, but fiscal dividends to investing in oral health. At a time of significant change across health and social care settings, in Manchester this year I will be making the case for why high quality oral and mouth care must remain a top priority for commissioners and managers by detailing how NHS England can help them to ‘design-in’ evidence-based best practice to their patient services.”

Among a host of leading speakers at this year’s Expo will be NHS England Chief Executive Simon Stevens; Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt; the Chief Nursing Officer for England, Professor Jane Cummings; and NHS England’s National Medical Director Professor Sir Bruce Keogh.

The overarching theme for the event is ‘Collaboration to implement the NHS Five Year Forward View across health and social care’. As well as the two main ‘Future NHS’ and ‘Innovate’ stages, and four smaller theatre stages, there will be four feature zones focussing on the key areas of Transformation of Care, Urgent and Emergency Care, Primary Care and Digital Health.

Theatre stages will offer longer, more in-depth exploration of key topics, with dedicated sessions for leaders, commissioners, clinicians and communications leads. Four feature zones will be dedicated to in-depth discussion and learning focused around a single area of health and social care work. Each zone runs its own programme of speakers and activities throughout the two days.

The Pop-Up University features again this year and will showcase the very best in innovative care, treatment and commissioning from across the NHS led by some of the most senior and experienced professionals in England.

There are now fewer than two weeks to sign up for the event of September 11th and 12th – the fourth of its kind at the Manchester Central conference centre.

Early-bird delegate rates are still available for Expo 2017 with NHS, local government and public sector staff able to secure complementary access. Visit: www.expo.nhs.uk.